Pocket knife



Oct. 17, 1933. J SCHRADE 1,931,360

POCKET KNIFE Filed June 27, 1932 WITNESSES jam&lgzfl g /z/ "cw/e BY 224V. v 60 d Zfe M ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 17, 1933 1,931,360 POCKET KNIFE .lacob Schrade, Walden, N. Y.., assignor to Schrade Cutlery Company, Walden, N. ,Y., a

corporation of New York k Application June 27,1932. Serial No. 619,588 7 I 3 Claims. (01. 30 -16)" The present invention relates to pocket knives having means for locking the blades in open and closed positions and a spring for causing a closed blade to fly open when released from its 5 locking means, such knives being generally known as safety push button knives, an example or which is disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 1,857,725 issued to me on the 6th day of June, 1916. 10 in such knives the blades are rather loosely mounted in order that the relatively light spring may throw them open to, the fullest extent when the locking device is released by means of a push button; the said locking devices not only holding the blades closed against the tension of the opening spring but also holding them rigid when fully opened, and unlike ordinary pocket knives, there is no frictional engagement between the shank of the blades and the back of the knife, yieldingly resisting the opening and closing movement, and the movement of the blades to opened and closed position is unrestrained; the locking device serving only to lock them in clcsed and open position. I

the blades are freely movable about their pivots it frequently happens that when thrown open by the opening spring the shoulder of the shank will strike the end of the knife back with force enough to cause the blade to recoil before the locking device can engage it. to lock it in open position, and this tendency to recoil is present to a greater extent with the smaller or lighter blades than with the heavier blades.

An object of the invention therefore is to provide a friction device located in the path of movement of the shank of the blade so as to be engaged thereby and exert a frictional resistance to the opening movement at or about the point where the blade approaches the limit of its opening movement, to prevent its recoil and to facilitate the engagement of the locking device therewith. A further object is to provide such a brake in which the frictional resistance to the movement of the blade will be gradually increased as the blade approaches the limit of knife is shown, Figure 1 showing in side elevablades and 3, the blade 2 being very much larger and heavier than the blade 3.- The handle, as usual in such constructions, is provided with two frame plates 4 arranged in parallel relation and extending from end to end, and may have the usual outer coverings 5 and bolster caps 6. The

usual back 7 terminating near each .end to form stops against which the shoulders of the shanks of the blades strike at the end of the opening movement and closing the space occupied by the blades, completes the back of the knife.

The blades are mounted to have a relatively free swinging movement about the pivots 8 and 9; and as beforeexplained, they are not restrained in their movement in, any; way by the back, as they are in the ordinary pocket knife. The blades may therefore be opened by a rela-' tively light spring (not shown), and they are held in closed and open position by a looking or latching mechanism, one for each blade, a portion of which is shown at 10 in Figure, 1, such locking or latching mechanism embodying a push button 11, all of which may be as shownrin my patent previously referred to;

In order to prevent the recoil of a blade when thrown open there is provided a friction or brake device 12 which in the illustrated embodiment comprises a spring member formed as a part of one of the side plates 4 by cutting into the side plate near one end as at 13, and extending thence in a curved direction as at 14, and bending the free end of the member 12 thus formed, slightly towards the center of the knife, and into the path of movement of the shank of the blade, as shown in Fig. 3. As thus formed,

when the blade swings open the shank of the blade will be engaged by the spring member 12 and because-of its free end being bent laterally the friction developed will be increased as the blade approaches the limit of its opening movement, thus holding the blade open, resisting the recoil action and facilitating the engagement of the locking device with the shank of the blade.

While I have shown and described a twobladed knife, one a relatively largeheavy blade and the other a relatively small light blade, it

isperfectly obvious that the invention relates to single-bladed knives asrwell, and as the heavier blades do not have the tendency to recoil to the same extent as the lighter blades, the brake device need-not be employed with the larger blades even though I,;have illustrated the end of the-knife-carrying' the large'r blade as being equipped with the brake device as well as the end Where the smaller blade is'located.

It is to be understood also, that my invention a is not limited to a brake device such as I -llave shown and described, but will include any brake device which will secure the results Whichi'l have sought, as I believe that such adevice'mfor the purpose has never heretoforebeen produced.

I claim:

1. In a pocket knife comprising-a spring open ing blade, a friction brake extending into the path of movement of and engaging theshank of the "blade with increasing force as the blade approaches the limit of its opening movement.

2. In a, pocket knife comprising a spring opening blade, a spring brake member located at or near the shank of rthe gbladeagingposition to contact therewith u and wxert braking -=pressure I its lee 

